MAZ suspends work up to April 6

Workers will be sent on a compulsory leave.

Such problems can affect the entire engineering industry, Belarusian news writes.

Was MAZ hit by the world trend?

Minsk Automobile Plant explains the car market has recently had a downturn. For this reason the enterprise is experiencing difficulties with sales.

Last year MAZ, according to data of the Russian Avtostat analytical agency, sold in the Russian market 22.7% or 2238 trucks less than in 2013.

In two months of this year the Minsk automobile plant sold 794 trucks to Russia, which is 38.2% less than the same period last year. The current situation forced an enterprise to pursue more flexible policy not to work for a warehouse.

MAZ, according to unofficial information, suspends work from March 27 to April 6. Workers will be sent on leaves with the pay of two third of wage.

The majority of workers of the Minsk Automobile Plant confirm the stop of the conveyor system.

MAZ is not the only enterprise in Belarus, which is experiencing difficulties with sales and therefore puts workers on a part-time week or sends on a compulsory leave. Official statistics shows current issues of Belarusian industry.

In two months of the current year industrial output has decreased by 5.8% in comparison to January-February last year.

In February stocks of finished goods increased by Br2 trillion and as of March 1 totaled Br38.6 trillion, or 87.5% of the monthly production volume.

The sum of the net loss in January 2015 amounted to about Br35 trillion, which is 26 times more than in January last year.

Exports of industrial products dropped. For example, in January 2015, compared with the same period last year, exports of trucks fell by 3.4%, tractors -18.1%, agricultural machinery - 45.3%, truck tractors- 62.9%.

"Enterprises cannot sell the same amount of production. Therefore, there are two ways out: either to produce to the warehouse or to produce the required amount of equipment", Aliaksandr Shvets, the Chairman of the Belarusian Scientific and Industrial Association, explains.

Of the two negative scenarios enterprises' management tend to choose the second one - the decline in production. The scenario forces either to send workers on compulsory leave or to take a part-time work week.

According to official data, the number of small-time workers in the industry has increased 1.9 times. Thus, in January 2015 there were about 80 thousand of small-time workers. Workers of manufacturing industry made up 98.9% of them.

"Because of the fall in oil prices, the devaluation of the Russian ruble, engineering movement, everything changed for the worse, therefore, enterprises of this branch will be the most aggrieved party. To say who's next, we need to see the sales pattern in each of the enterprises", Aliaksandr Shvets says.